Hillary Rodham—on her own

May 15, 20205 Minuten

By Eliana Dockterman

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN M. HURLEY

HILLARY RODHAM’S PRIVATE AND PUBLIC lives became entwined the day she met Bill Clinton. From then on, her political aspirations would forever be tied to her charismatic partner—when it came to both his triumphs and his missteps. But even before she met Bill, Hillary had already learned to be stoic. In the recent Hulu documentary Hillary, she reflected on her time in 1970s law-school classrooms dominated by men: “You got points for not being emotional. When you train yourself like that and then you fast-forward into an age where everybody wants to see what your emotions are … it’s really a different environment.” So when scandal broke during Bill’s first presidential campaign, she compartmentalized her private life.

For years, pundits have called Hillary a cipher. At least some of this criticism is steeped